UK relays running smoothly in time for NCAAs

By Mark Maloney / mmaloney@herald-leader.com

Meet schedule
NCAA Trackand Field Championships
When: Wednesday through Saturday
Where: Fayetteville, Ark.
UK's relays
The Wildcats will run in the 4-by-100-meter relay semifinals Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. EDT, and in the semis of the 4-by-400 Thursday at 9:40 p.m. Finals in the 4-by-100 will be Friday at 7:15 p.m., and the 4-by-400 will be Saturday at 2:45 p.m.
Wednesday's Events
(All times Eastern; all events except decathlon are qualifying rounds; state entries in parentheses)
11:30 a.m. — Men's hammer throw
12:30 p.m. — Men's decathlon 100 meters (followed by long jump, shot put, high jump and 400)
2 — Women's hammer throw (Kristin Smith, UK)
4 — Men's shot put (Rashaud Scott, UK; Steve Hnat, U of L)
5 — Men's long jump (Tone Belt, U of L)
5:15 — Women's shot put (Jeré Summers, Chinwe Okoro, Khadija Abdullah, U of L)
5:30 — Men's pole vault
6 — Women's 4-by-100 relay (WKU)
6:15 — Men's 4-by-100 relay (UK)
6:30 — Women's 800; women's high jump (Rachel Gehret, U of L); women's javelin
6:45 — Men's 800
7 — Women's 100 quarterfinals
6:15 — Men's 100 quarterfinals (Rondel Sorrillo, UK)
7:30 — Women's 400 hurdles
7:45 — Men's 400 hurdles
8 — Women's 400
8:15 — Men's 400; women's pole vault
8:30 — Women's 100 semifinals; women's long jump
8:40 — Men's 100 semifinals (Sorrillo)
8:50 — Women's 3,000 steeplechase
9 — Men's high jump (Tone Belt, U of L); men's javelin
9:15 — Men's 3,000 steeplechase (Corey Thorne, Matt Hughes, U of L)
9:40 — Women's 5,000 (Janet Jesang, WKU)
10:25 — Men's 5,000 (Joseph Maina, EKU).
NCAA Trackand Field Championships
When: Wednesday through Saturday
Where: Fayetteville, Ark.
Meet schedule: Page Xx

Erin Tucker, the University of Kentucky track team's sprints and hurdles coach, says the key ingredient to a successful 4-by-100-meter relay is "moving that stick through the zone."

Unlike the meet-closing 4-by-400 relay, the runner receiving the "stick" in the 4-by-100 cannot afford to look the baton into his or her hand.

The 4-by-100 is about speed and timing. When blindly receiving the baton from a teammate, the runner should be hitting full speed.

Properly executed, the four-by-one is beautiful.

Yet, Tucker says, "it's the most gut-wrenching race that I could watch on the track. Because you have four opportunities to make a mistake ... in terms of getting that stick through. It's a stressful race to watch as a coach."

That Tucker will get to stress over UK's 4-by-100 men, as well as the 4-by-400, this week is remarkable.

The Wildcats will contend for NCAA championships Wednesday through Saturday at Arkansas. Based on qualifying times, UK ranks sixth in the 4-by-100 (39.29 seconds) and 12th in the 4-by-400 (3:05.77). And that's without freshman speedster Justin Austin, who suffered a torn quadriceps at the Penn Relays in April.

"We're hoping to win the NCAA championship in the four-by-one and get a pretty good place in the four-by-four," said Kwasi Obeng, who, with José Acevedo, will compete in both relays.

When Austin went down, Obeng stepped in on the 4-by-100. Stephan Smith, a half-miler, joined the 4-by-400.

Injuries have played havoc with the Cats all season.

On the 4-by-100:

■ Leadoff runner Gordon McKenzie, a senior from Queens, N.Y., suffered a hamstring injury in the opening meet of the outdoor season, March 20-21 at Arizona State.

■ No. 2 runner Acevedo, who competed in the Beijing Olympics 200 meters for Venezuela, is running despite a stress fracture in one foot.

■ No. 3 leg Obeng, a native of Ghana who moved to Bards town in 2001, says the NCAA will be his "third or fourth" 4-by-100 of the year.

■ Anchor man Rondel Sorrillo, who also competed in the Beijing Olympics 200, for Trinidad and Tobago, injured his hamstring in the same meet as McKenzie.

"They're not as fit as they possibly could be because they haven't been able to do as much work on the track," Tucker said of Sorrillo and McKenzie. "We did a lot of stuff in the pool. But ... you can't emulate coming out of the blocks anywhere but on the track."

McKenzie got out of the blocks well enough at the NCAA Mideast Regional to put UK in the lead.

Acevedo, who jokes that his foot "is still attached to my leg," padded the lead despite pain with every step.

Obeng held the lead but lost it when Sorrillo had to slow in order to receive the baton. That was enough to put 100-meter champ Trindon Holliday of Louisiana State in front.

The timing was off because Sorrillo finally took off as he was supposed to, something he was reluctant to do all season. In the 10 days since, Tucker has drilled his quartet on exchanges. He also has readjusted Sorrillo's takeoff mark to where it was to start the year, in anticipation of the desired quick start.

Sorrillo says he's been trying to "get out" during practice. Obeng says baton work has "been going pretty good."

Tucker agrees.

"We actually worked those (Friday), and they were pretty fine. So (Sorrillo) knows 'the steps are fine; I just need to get out like I got out in the finals at regionals, and that stick will move smooth through the zone,' " Tucker said.

Sorrillo also qualified for two individual NCAA events, the 100 and 200.

Obeng leads off the UK 4-by-400 and hands to Smith. Then comes senior Brandon Austin (no relation to Justin), with Acevedo on the anchor.

Tucker says Smith and Brandon Austin have run pretty well of late, but "both of those guys have a lot more left in the tank."

If they can harness that extra speed, Acevedo hopes to do something special — perhaps even improve on UK's school-record third-place finish of a year ago (3:02.00).

Tucker had Acevedo's bad-foot regional split at 46.6.

"I'm running for the team now, basically," says Acevedo, who has been in the NCAA 4-by-400 all four years. "I'm putting a lot of effort, a lot of heart, and I'm just getting ready for it. Last weekend, it bothered me a lot. But I've got (three) guys behind me, and I cannot let them down."